Egg Men

April 4, 2010

Happy Easter.  I thought I would honor this day by way of the Beatles.  If you’re like me you probably have little idea about what the full lyrics of “I Am The Walrus” even say, much less mean (having listened as a kid on the radio and coming away with little more than “I am the egg man, I am the walrus”).  Nevertheless, when I searched the lyrics out, I found them much to my liking:

“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.

See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.

I’m crying.

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.

Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody tuesday.

Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long.

I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.

I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob.

Mister city policeman sitting

Pretty little policemen in a row.

See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run.

I’m crying, I’m crying.

I’m crying, I’m crying.

Yellow mother custard, dripping from a dead dog’s eye.

Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess,

Boy, you been a naughty girl you let your knickers down.

I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.

I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob.

Sitting in an english garden waiting for the sun.

If the sun don’t come, you get a tan

From standing in the english rain.

I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.

I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob goo goo g’joob.

Expert textpert choking smokers,

Don’t you think the joker laughs at you?

See how they smile like pigs in a sty,

See how they snied.

I’m crying.

Semolina pilchard, climbing up the eiffel tower.

Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna.

Man, you should have seen them kicking edgar allan poe.

I am the eggman, They are the eggmen.

I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob goo goo g’joob goo goo g’joob.

Goo goo g’joob goo”

*

Apparently John Lennon, when he found out that a teacher at his old school was working with the kids to analyze Beatle lyrics, decided to deliberately combine the leavings of a couple of acid trips along with the most purposefully nonsensical things he could come up with, quipping at the time, “Let the fuckers work that one out.”

Lennon also said in a interview, “It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with the Beatles’ work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, shit, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, ‘I am the carpenter.’ But that wouldn’t have been the same, would it? [Sings, laughing] ‘I am the carpenter….'”

Let’s dedicate today to the spirit of John Lennon, to art that just is, and that like dreams, may contain meaning even if we don’t know what it is nor did we consciously put it there—in the service of the absurd, the magical, the redeemed and the boxed set of darkness…  you never know, we and all our collective children just might already be all together.

Namaste, Bruce

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Kristen @ Motherese April 4, 2010 at 11:38 am

The presence in our house of Beatles’ Rock Band for the PlayStation has resulted in my toddler knowing most of the words to this song.

He finds the lyrics hilarious; I find his performance of the song hilarious. It works out for everyone.

I like to think John Lennon would approve, given his own penchant for letting his son fool around with him in the studio.

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privilegeofparenting April 4, 2010 at 4:22 pm

I would think you’re right on that, particularly the bracing power of kids to find the funny when the grown-ups look for the serious and put meanings into things that were never intended (something a shrink would never do). Here’s to cracking up, in a good way, on Easter.

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